Psystar is now refocusing its efforts on its unlocking software, but Apple is looking to hand it another defeat

Apple's legal campaign to crush Mac
cloner Psystar made
headlines several times over the last year and provoked diverse
responses. Some were supportive of Apple, arguing that the
company had every right to tightly enforce the strict provisions on
its operating system. Others argued that Apple was being
abusive and manipulating its position to sell overpriced
hardware.

Psystar, which already
went bankrupt once, has agreed to pay Apple $2.647M USD in damages
for marring its "brand image" by releasing Mac clones.
It also agreed to suspend production and sales of all its Mac clones
and has since pulled the sales page from the company's website.
The decision casts uncertainty on the status of orders from those who
bought Mac clones in the final days before the settlement,
individuals whose systems have not yet been shipped.

While the
situation seems to be dire for Psystar, the company vows to persist
in its campaign of rebellion. The company is now focused on its
unlocking software offering Rebel
EFI, which allows OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) to be installed easily
on a variety of hardware configurations with Intel processors.
Rebel EFI provides support for multi-boot systems with a mix of
Linux, Windows, and OS X installed.

Apple is trying to kill
off Rebel EFI, though. The company is battling Psystar in a
separate case in Florida court. The Mac clone case took 17
months, so it appears that the final fate of Psystar won't be decided
for some time. The odds seem stacked against the company,
though; the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which helped hand Apple
a victory in the clone case, specifically outlaws users or businesses
to circumvent software protections, even on devices they legally
own. As Psystar is doing exactly that, it seems to be on some
pretty weak legal ground, regardless of how "fair" the DMCA
is.

Until the hammer drops, though, Psystar plans to continue
to sell its software and defy Apple's closed box business model.

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